Manchester United 2 PAOK 0

UEFA Europa League

Thursday 7 November 2024

red record

The context

John and I were still closing in on our elusive ninety-two League grounds. We had visited Old Trafford many times, but never together. This group stage fixture for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s misfiring United side gave us the chance to put things right.  

The journey 

special branch

Every visit I make to Old Trafford recalls my childhood. It doesn’t help that residents-only schemes have pushed street parking beyond Seymour Grove and close to our old house. John and I met on these dark, quiet roads; most things seem smaller, but flimsy saplings I remember being planted are now thirty feet high and forcing the pavements out of shape.

Flesh and wine

session

We settled on the Quadrant for tonight’s pre-match session. Out of town fans throng every pub for miles; some places do, however, retain more local character than others. This old favourite hides away among small shops, next to a tree-lined roundabout between the cricket ground and Longford Park. It’s surrounded by seemingly endless suburban semis built during southern Manchester’s pre-War growth.

memorial

This was boozer of choice for many United players both before and after Munich.  Legend claims that Tommy Taylor would sit here for hours, innocently drinking tonic water which landlord John Leary topped up with gin under the bar. A memorial plaque on one wall – funded by locals and regulars – commemorates all twenty-two people who lost their lives.

hot stuff

Takeaways are scarce in these quiet avenues. Our route to Old Trafford followed the equally residential Railway Road – mercifully avoiding Lou Macari’s chippy, and the grim press of identikit food vans that cluster around it – so we decided to dine inside. My pie was hot as volcanic magma, but fortunately cooled down by the time I had climbed fifty-odd steps to the Stretford End’s topmost row.

The game

hopeful

Home fans were hopeful United could break their run of straight draws in this competition. For much of the first half, however, it seemed as though Greek champions PAOK would frustrate them much as Twente, Porto and Fenerbahce had done. Both sides made themselves busy but Mady Camara’s stinging drive – tipped over at full strength by Andre Onana – was the closest we came to a goal.     

nerves

Amad Diallo calmed Mancunian nerves. His header from a precise Bruno Fernandes cross put United ahead. Andrija Zivkovic then wasted Magomed Ozdoyev’s excellent through ball before Tarik Tissoudali shot straight at Onana. But this would be Diallo’s night, and he took his second – hit expertly across Dominik Kotarski after robbing Abdul Rahman Baba – quite brilliantly. 

Teams and goals

Manchester United: Onana, Dalot (Martinez 65), Evans, Lindelof, Mazraoui, Ugarte (Eriksen 65), Casemiro, Garnacho (Rashford 65), Bruno Fernandes, Diallo (Mount 81), Hojlund (Zirkzee 90). Unused subs: Amass, Bayindir, Fitzgerald, Heaton, Wheatley, de Ligt, Antony.    

PAOK: Kotarski, Baba, Colley, Kedziora, Jonny, Schwab (Bakayoko 65), Ozdoev, Taison (Shoretire 84), Camara (Despodov 75), Zivkovic, Tissoudali (Chalov 65). Unused subs: Balomenos, Michailidis, Monastirlis, Joan Sastre, Brandon Thomas, Thymianis.

Goals: Diallo 50, 77.

Attendance: 73,174.